In this paper, I argue that Marxism offers the most appropriate paradigm for analysing and shaping contemporary geopolitics. The advantage of a Marxist approach is that it goes beyond merely descriptive analysis and can suggest and achieve long-term, effective solutions to the problems considered. I start by highlighting the adequacy of the Marxist paradigm for addressing the challenges of geopolitics and International Relations (IR), and I critically discuss two misinterpretations of Marxist theory: the claim that it neglects either the national or the international level. Then, I proceed to introduce the conception of Globalized Class Struggles (GCS). Against the view that takes class struggle (in singular) to refer only to the struggle between the bourgeoisie and the proletariat, I maintain that class struggles (in plural) are not reducible to that essential form, and that they include a wide range of further multisided confrontations between various antagonist actors. After pointing out what can be considered as the economic foundation of (GCS), I identify the main involved classes on the basis of the centre / periphery dichotomy, and I briefly illustrate the usefulness of (GCS) through selected examples. Further, I examine the Marxist principle of Proletarian Internationalism (PI) by developing an interpretation of it as grounded in the dialectic between the local and the global levels. Indeed, I claim that such an understanding of (PI) can appropriately address both intrastate and interstate geopolitical challenges. The analysis finally focuses on the normative potential of Marxism in general and (PI) in particular. The suggested Marxist approach to contemporary geopolitics is, admittedly, on the side of the working classes worldwide, especially in the peripheries, where they are engaged in fierce anti-imperialist struggles.
Barbara Cyrek , Malwina Popiołek , Jenna Peltonen
et al.
This paper reviews the recent literature in the field of communication sciences in terms of analyzing the research on deception, misinformation, and information misuse. A scoping review of the literature presented here focuses on deception studies published in top SJR journals in the years 2020–2022. Two research approaches can be distinguished in this field: analyzing the process or analyzing the content. For the most part, researchers analyze deception from the perspective of the communication process, there are far fewer studies on the content of deceptive messages. Original papers comprise the majority of studies on deception in the communications field, and, among them, dominate the research on social media. In recent years, research on instant messaging services such as WhatsApp has been increasingly popular, but there has been a lack of studies on Telegram, which is growing in importance for communication processes. This work contributes to the literature on deception by introducing a novel literature sampling method and investigating two dimensions of deception analysis, of which one is far more represented in communication studies.
International relations, Political science (General)
The Government of Zhuhai Municipality, China, sent a health aid grant to the Government of Surakarta Municipality, Indonesia, in 2021. The health aid grant was sent to help tackle the escalataion of COVID-19 cases in Surakarta. The renewed status of the Coronavirus outbreak into a Public Health Emergency of International Concern (PHEIC) in 2020 requires a collective and also global response. The act of sending health grant was a further continuation of the Sister City partnership initiated in 2019. This article discussed the challenges of Surakarta and Zhuhai Sister City Partnership after COVID-19. The theory of Paradiplomacy and International Cooperation was applied in this article while performing the descriptive analysis benefitting the method of literature study to collect data. Results show that The Government of Surakarta Municipality faces some challenges in its role in the enforcement of Surakarta and Zhuhai Sister City Partnership.
The Nigerian Police Force is the statutory body saddled with the protection of lives and property. Unfortunately, mistrust exists between the police and the citizens for perceived corruption and reported abuse of citizens' freedom. As a result, people resort to the use of vigilante for the protection of lives and property. The normalization of vigilante groups for crime prevention poses a challenge to the security architecture of the country and leads to a conclusion that ignores the attitude of the Police to the indiscriminate use of vigilante for crime prevention. Questionnaires were administered to police officers who have spent not less than five years of service in the Police Force. Police officers expressed disapproval for the activities of the vigilante and contend that the activities of the vigilante groups undermine their statutory responsibility to curb crime and protect the society.
The article aims to identify the key trends and main areas of development of arms trade and military-technical cooperation between South-East Asian countries and the United States and European Union countries over the past decade (2011–2020). In addition to the direct procurement of weapons and military equipment (with a detailed list of purchased systems for each of the South-East Asian countries), the supply of subsystems and components, the licensed production and other forms of military-technical cooperation are also considered. The growth of military expenditures and arms procurement of the South-East Asian countries over the past decade is analyzed in terms of influence of such drivers as internal instability, the China-US confrontation in the Pacific region and the unresolved disputes between the countries in the South China Sea, the modernization of the armed forces and national defense industries in SouthEast Asia. On this basis, conclusions are made about the prospects for development of military-technical cooperation and arms procurement in the region, as well as how the changes taking place in this sphere affect Russia’s military-technical cooperation with South-East Asian countries.
The purpose of this article is to contribute to the relatively scarce scholarly literature regarding the democratisation of the intelligence sector in post-communist Europe, with a focus on the experience and lessons that can be learned from the case of Romania. Essentially, the article addresses the impact of external pressure (derived from international cooperation, both at the national and agency level) on the reforms undertaken by Romania after 1989 and in preparation for its accession to NATO and the EU. I build upon literature in intelligence studies and civil-military relations and I analyse the two waves of legislative and institutional changes reflected in official documents, legislation, and public interviews by prominent members of the intelligence community. I also highlight the importance as well as the limits of international cooperation of Romanian agencies with their Western counterparts (NATO/EU institutions as well as agencies in member states) as a factor of democratization.
This commentary analyzes the ontological character of the United Nations’ Millennium Ecosystem Assessment (2005) and its attempt to imagine business-as-usual and transformative human-environmental futures. The Millennium Ecosystem Assessment (MA) constitutes the first and most significant attempt by an international political body to incorporate environmental concerns into the field of imaginative scenario building. In addition to its lengthy report on the threatened status of planetary ecosystems, the MA contains extensive “future scenarios” that imagine how human-environmental relations might unfold over the course of the twenty-first century. These scenarios arise out of the lineage of military scenarios generated during the Cold War, and continue to inform UN assessments in the present. This commentary explores how a politico-military concern for security informs the framework of the scenarios, and limits how the MA characterizes the fundamental human act of narration. In the process, the commentary explores alternative ontologies of narration and how these may lead to more transformative narratological interventions.
The Roma population, with approximately 10 million people, is the largest minority of Europe. Since the end of the communist era in Eastern Europe, mass emigration has occurred, mainly to Western Europe. Today across Western Europe the Roma still face huge problems in regard of discrimination and exclusion. A general change in the way they are perceived is necessary. In the last years, the European Union have put the Roma questions on the forefront of their discussions. Nevertheless, the situation of the minority is still very precarious and demands more concrete research and action.
The study A passionate patriotism or European enslavement, from the eminent professor Petar Anđelković, represents another attempt by this author to analyze the Serbian society in the context of its development. This book is a logical continuation of his essay published in 2013, Serbian Society-without past, what is our present?, and represents a symbiosis of texts that the author has already published and in which he addresses the very relevant questions of Serbia's relations with the new world order and with the inevitable role of the European Union, as an existential challenge to the very existence of the Serbian society.
History of scholarship and learning. The humanities
There are more than seven thousand of unique languages nowadays, that reflect the uniqueness of the living conditions, the worldview and cultural traditions of different peoples. According to UNESCO, 75 languages in Europe and Asia Minor and about 115 languages in the United States over the past five centuries have been lost. The regional or minority languages are part of the national heritage and play leading role in the process of national identity as bearers and guarantors of national culture and national identity, that is why the value of regional languages is constantly increasing. However, the danger of the growth of nationalism and separatism makes politicians wary of measures to protect the national languages. The article deals with the political debate in France around the ratification of the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages, adopted by the Council of Europe on 25 June 1992, which purpose was to protect the historical regional languages of the EU, some of which are in danger of eventual extinction.. The author provides analysis of the historical preconditions of the current debate as well as of the stance taken by the French leadership on this issue. The study is based on a set of scientific methods and approaches - the principle of scientific objectivity and system of historical research. The main methods are problematic and historical-comparative analysis, classification and comparison of the political and historical concepts. Modern France de jure firmly follows linguistic traditions laid down by previous regimes, as defined in its constitution as the principles of the indivisibility of the Republic and the unity of the French people. According to Article 2 of the Constitution of the Fifth Republic, French language is the only official. However, in addition to the French 75 languages are being spoken all over the Overseas Departments and Territories of France, including 24 languages of the indigenous population of the European part of France, and the languages of immigrants. Despite the fact that the ratification of the Charter serve certain political figures, the Conseil d'Etat, the highest judicial authority in administrative cases, and later the Constitutional Council refused to ratify the Charter, due to the fact that the provisions of the Charter are contrary to the Constitution. The question of amending the Constitution of France is facing fierce debate and remains unresolved for nearly a decade. The political problem is the impact of the application of the Charter, by the fact that at all times promoting one language at the expense of others become a catalyst for powerful and very dangerous social and political processes.
The article is devoted to some strategies aimed at involving the reader into the writer's book by means of making the reader's attitude to its content personal or subjective. In the article it is stated that there are two components which are intrinsic to virtual intercourse between writer and reader. One of the components is the content of the writer's publication while the other is the reader's attitude towards the content suggested. The article shows that the reader's attitude encompasses two processes: the process of self-estrangement from the writer's content and the process of self-involvement into it. In the article, the author analyses these two processes in relation to the content of the book. In the article, the author singles out and gives descriptions of such dimensions of the book's content as its topical and emotional dimension, its depth, human nature dimension and interpersonal relations dimension as well as of strategies used by the writer in order to involve the reader into his writings. The author argues that a successful strategy is based on managing to touch the reader to the quick, i.e. his or her subjectivity, and the result of successfulness can be measured by the reader's readiness and willingness to sink into one of the dimensions suggested. The author of the article comes to the conclusion that signs of the successful strategy can be traced in the reader's return to the intercourse with the writer when he or she rereads the writer's books, repeats or makes references to words, situations or ideas suggested or described by the writer who has grasped the reader's attention in one or several content dimensions.
In the globalized world of the 21st century, the international relations are presented as a
mandatory element for maintaining the balance of world power and peace. Although the international
actors, such as states or international organizations, are trying to establish as many relationships as
possible of various kinds (economic, political, military) through diplomacy, all over the world, at
macro level, the international actors should first achieve a harmony or a general state of good
understanding at the micro level, i.e. in a certain geographic region to which they belong. Romania, as
an actor of international relations, has as own purpose, and also imposed upon accession to the
European Union, maintaining the diplomatic relations in the region of Central-Eastern Europe, both
with its neighbors and with the states in the proximity of the Black Sea region. The article aims at
outlining better the role that they have, in the geopolitical context, the countries from the extensive
region of the Black Sea, in the consolidation of economic and political cooperation relationships,
which would lead to stability in the region.
The text describes the relations and tensions that characterize the theme of development, external cooperation and foreign investments directed towards the so-called emergent economies of the South-South axis. It does so in order to reflect upon some aspects of this process. Among these are: a) the separate strands of thinking that contest the legitimacy of the meaning of the word development in the area of academic, political and societal debate; b) the power shaped by technical and productive networks and institutions when this process is set in motion; c) the international cooperation across the South-South axis, started by the BRICS constitution; and d) the aspects relative to the different rationales whose path cross within the sphere of these relations. The case of Mozambique is cited as an empiric reference so as to problematize the rationales and ideologies modeled on the different forms of development that “travel” from industrialized to non-industrialized countries. We conclude by showing certain trends seen in the direct investments done by the multinational corporation Vale S.A. in the Tete Province, in Mozambique, which aims at showing how different conceptions and visions of processes of development intertwine and conflict, in a context in which global dominance takes over local dominance.
Resumo: Na intenção de compreender as relações que estabelecem os contextos de influência e produção com o contexto da prática na produção das políticas curriculares para a formação do licenciado e do bacharel, interessa-me aprofundar a reflexão quanto aos processos de produção das políticas curriculares voltadas para aformação do licenciado e do bacharel. Busco construir uma análise que se apoia em perspectivas mais dinâmicas das relações macro e micro sociais. Nesse sentido, considero o nível de análise em macro-escala como o contexto sócio-político-econômico-cultural, nacional e internacional, onde estão sendo produzidas as políticas educacionais e, especialmente, as políticas curriculares para a formação do licenciado e do bacharel. Busco também estabelecer relações com um nível de análise micro-escala que considera o contexto da formação inicial do biólogo, tendo no curso de Ciências Biológicas da Universidade Federal de Uberlândia (UFU) mais um espaço formador, que também atua como produtor das políticas curriculares. Para tanto, reforço minha compreensão de que as relações entre esses contextos são bastante complexas e multidirecionais. Considero que as políticas na formação estão engendradas em relações de poder, sendo resultado de disputas e negociações travadas no âmbito governamental e fora dele, além do espaço da reforma curricular que passa a ser um campo fértil para que essa discussão seja empreendida.
Palavras Chave: Ciências Biológicas; Bacharelado; Currículo.
Abstract: With the intention of understanding the relationships established between the contexts of production and influence, and the context of practice in the production of curriculum policies for the graduation of the biology teacher and biologist, I am interested in deepen the discussion about the production processes of curriculum policies aimed for the graduation of the biology teacher and the biologist. I seek to build an analysis that relies on the most dynamic perspectives of macro and micro social relations. For this study, I consider the macro-scale as a national and international socio-political-economic-cultural context and the micro-scale as the context of the biologist graduation by the course of Biological Sciences in the Federal University of Uberlândia (UFU). From these contexts of educational policies production, and especially, the curriculum policies the graduation of the biology teacher and the biologist, I highlight the relationships between macro and micro scale, reinforcing the understanding that they are quite complex and multidirectional. Therefore, I consider that the policies in the graduation are intertwined in the power relations, and outcome from disputes and negotiations held within and outside the government, and the curricular reform space is fertile ground for this discussion is undertaken.
Keywords: Curriculum; Biological Sciences; Graduation.